Voice of the DBA

Tag: travel

  • Learn about Database Deployment in DC

    SQL in the City is coming to the DC area in a few weeks with a seminar on the Stairway to Database Deployment. Both Grant Fritchey and I are traveling to the Washington DC area to deliver a half day, free seminar event on Friday, December 6, 2013. We are likely going to be in the Chevy Chase, MD side of DC that afternoon, but I don’t have a location right now.

    If you are in the area, and want to see our vision of how to streamline your database development and deployment and make it run smoother, register today. It’s free, it’s a half day, and afterwards Grant and I will be chatting with you at a happy hour to talk shop, deployment, anything you want.

    The seminar is three sessions. I have been presenting the first 2, and Grant the third. The sessions build on each other and are the following:

    • Team-based Development with Version Control
    • Automated Database Build and Test
    • Best Practices for Database Deployment

    I’ll also be at SQL Saturday #233 – Washington, DC on Saturday, December 7, 2013. I think I have one session, and I may leave early as I have family in the area, but I’ll be there all morning and happy to chat with you, shake hands, or even just say hi.

    If you can attend, please register for SQL in the City or SQL Saturday #233. Both events are free, but we’d like to know who’s coming so we can plan.

  • Three Trips

    I’m down to three trips, with most of my busy month behind me. It’s been a hard year at times, easy at others. This month I was in Vegas, LA, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Charleston, with one more trip to Vegas next week. The travel is hard, and in addition to wearing on me mentally, it compresses the rest of my time at work. That adds some stress, which bleeds over into family life for me. Some people separate well; I don’t.

    That’s OK, Despite the hard travel, I’ve enjoyed seeing so many people I know and meeting new ones. Across the 11 talks I gave this month, I enjoyed them all. I met at least one new person at each, if not more, and had some great conversations.

    Three trips left.

    The next one is SQL Intersection in Las Vegas, which will be a fun trip as my wife is coming along. Then it’s Portland for a SQL in the City seminar and a SQL Saturday in November, and a repeat in Washington D.C. in December.

    Plus vacation. I desperately need to take time off. Both for mental health, and because I’ve accumulated too much that needs to be used before the end of the year. After searching out a bit of balance last year, I didn’t do a good job this year, and need to pay more attention to things. I love my job, and I enjoy going to work, but the last month+ has been hard.

    I’m just making a note here, partly to remind you to take your own time off from work, but also to warn you I might be gone in Nov/Dec a bit from work.

     

     

  • Two Weeks to SQL Intersection

    If you haven’t made it to a conference this year, you’ve still got a great one to think about: SQL Intersection. The second installment of this conference, run by SQLskills (Kimberly Tripp and Paul Randal) takes place in two weeks. Come to Las Vegas and learn a ton about SQL Server on October 27-30.  You can register now and if you choose the SHOW package, you’ll get an XBOX One or a Surface RT.

    I spoke at this event in the spring and it was interesting. There were some amazing speakers (Brent Ozar, Kendra Little, Joe Sack, and more), which meant I didn’t have too many questions (or attendees) at my sessions. That’s OK. If I had the chance, I’d probably rather go see those speakers talk about performance rather than some of my niche topics.

    This fall I’ve redone some sessions and built new ones. Perhaps I’ll do better as I have some developer focused topics and there will be developers and hybrid technology folks at the rest of the Dev Interestion event. With ASP.NET, Visual Studio, Azure, and Sharepoint events taking place as well, perhaps I’ll get a few people to wander over as I walk about Version Control for databases along with Automated Building and Testing of your database changes. My employer, Red Gate Software, has tools and does a lot of work in this area, and while you don’t need our tools, you do want to be sure you implement these concepts in your environment.

    I’ll also be talking about branding, but tell your boss not to worry. I’m not trying to get you a new employer, but help you stand out in your current one, get a raise, or find a better job that fits what you want to do.

    It will be chilly in most of the country by late October, but it should still be beautiful in Las Vegas. If you stick around for the weekend, Halloween in the city is something to see. Come to the conference and extend it into a vacation that you’ll never forget.

    Register today for the last big SQL Server conference I’ll be at in 2013 and I hope to see you there.

  • My Busy Weekend

    This weekend is the fall camporee for my middle son’s Boy Scout troop. He’s one of the senior scouts in the group, and he’s committed to help run some of the training sessions and competitions for younger boys. He asked if I’d go along on the trip and help out, something I’m usually happy to do. However this time I had to decline, informing him that I’d be out of town this weekend. He asked me where I’d be. My answer:

    He told me that’s quite a bit of travel, and he’s right. However that’s not all of it. My journey starts today as I head to LA for SQL in the City 2013 Pasadena.